100 Garikai families share 2 blair toilets

100 Garikai families share 2 blair toilets.NewZimbabwe.com. 08 June 2014

MASVINGO beneficiaries of a housing scheme hastily commissioned to appease families rendered homelessness by the widely condemned Operation Murambatsvina have demanded water and sewer connections to the settlement.

The houses were put up on the outskirts of Masvingo under the Garikai/Hlalani Khule plan in 2004 and have never been linked to the city’s water and sewer network.

With population rising in the sprawling suburb that is home to mostly the unemployed and informal sector workers, residents, together with health and environment specialists, said they were concerned about the risk of disease outbreaks.

The settlement relies on two Blair toilets and a single borehole, which are woefully inadequate for the more than 100 families. The toilets were installed by a non-governmental organisation.

“We approached officials in the Ministry of Local Government over the issue, and we were told the provision of water and sewer facilities was the responsibility of the council.

“We spoke to the council a number of times but nothing is being done,” said one of the beneficiaries.

It would cost the council huge sums of money to link the area with the rest of the city. The only way to address the problem, they said, was for the government to take over the project.

Masvingo city council Town clerk Adolf Gusha said council was aware of the plight facing residents of the settlement adding the only way to resolve the problem out was for the beneficiaries to fund for the project.

“Sewer and water reticulation services are very expensive projects and at the moment council’s hands are tied, the only way out is for those beneficiaries to raise money if they want these services,” he said